COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTIONIt may seem like we say this every time we release a Wild Dog beer, but our newest brew really is Flying Dog’s most unique beer to date. Collaborator Doppelbock was created through Flying Dog’s Open Source Beer Project, which gave amateur brewers a chance to give our brewing team recommendations and feedback on the everything from the grain, hops and yeast to the brewing process itself. We combined your feedback and created a unique Doppelbock recipe to brew up and release.

Collaborator has a full body with a sweet malt profile and a slight roast character. The complete recipe and printable labels are available for download at www.OpenSourceBeerProject.com. We want to thank everyone who contributed to creating this beer, it truly was a collaboration.

Let this bitch warm up a bit. Get it? Cuz it’s flying dog? Yeah? Decent but not great and a little too watery, but it’s got that good bock maltiness and smell. Slightly dug it. Ralph Steadman might make any beer taste better though.

Corked 750ml Bottle. It pours a clear, dark copper with a quickly diminishing light beige head. The aroma has lots of bready qualities. Sweet caramel is very distinguishable as well. Some fruits are also noticeable, but very light. They seem to be of a darker fruit, such as a ripe plum. There are some subtle hints of alcohol. The flavour is initially of sweet, sticky caramel. Grain and some delicate dark fruit citrus flavours start to emerge. Though, the caramelly sweetness is still dominant. Towards the finish, alcohol becomes noticeable, but very subtly. Sweetness continues up until the finish in which the grains and some light bitterness starts to finally overpower the caramel. In a short amount of time, it goes from being smooth to being mildly dry. This isn’t too bad. But it’s a bit sweet for my tastes.

750 ml bottle courtesy of a trade with Jake65. Pours a mostly clear amber with a moderate linen white head that disappeared after the first sip. Pleasant malty aroma. The flavor is lightly sweet malt with some light-moderate bitterness at the finish. Nice caramel-rich mouthfeel. In reading the description, I see this was aged in whiskey barrels - absolutely no influence detected. A nice solid doppelbock.

Bottle at Shoreline Beverage, Huntington, NY. Nice aroma, mainly malt, some fruit and plums, tiny bit of alcohol. Nice copper color typical to the style. Nice thick mouthfeel. Taste of caramel malts, and a candy sweetness. Leaves a slight malty sweetness on the palate. the alcohol within is relatively well hidden. Nice dopplebock, not outstanding for this category, though. Obviously, I liked it better than many of my esteemed ratebeerians, however. BTW, where is the whiskey in this?

Not sure who brought this to the after party of the tasting, but I believe it was one of our local distributors. Thanks! Copper color with a thin head. Sweet grain and caramelly aroma. Very light flavor that primarily reminded me of a grain silo or feed mill store. Not bad by any stretch, but seemed more like a darkened version of a pale lager, not a doppelbock. I’ve had Stranahan’s whiskey, too, and I did not pick up any whiskey or oak notes.

Bottle from Holiday Wine Cellar. Created a mild aroma of toasted malt and a background of nuts. Appearance is a honey or tea color with a small formation of head on top. The flavor is what you could expect from an imported German doppelbock style and drinks smoothly with notes of toffee and caramel malt.

Dark copper color, decent foam. Nose is kinda sweet dark malts, some alcohol. flavor is a little off putting, large amount of malt flavors as expected, some fruit, a little to much alcohol kinda tart. just doesn’t feel like this ever completly came together

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